Author: Ferrante, Elena

This was a recommend from a group I follow on Facebook. I didn’t realize that it was the first in a series of four.

The story follows two friends, Elena and Lila, from the early 1950’s before they started school until Lila’s marriage at age 16. They grew up in a poor neighbourhood in Naples and seldom left it. While Elena carried on her studies into high school,Lila was forced to end her schooling at Grade 5 because her family could not afford the books. It is an interesting story and there are hints at what is to come in their lives but I won’t bother reading the rest of the series.

Despite the same name as the author, I couldn’t find anything that said the book was a memoir.

Goodreads Rating: * * *

From our house to you.

Author: Ken Follett

Pat bought this for me at the Texada Library’s book sale. They hold it every year on the August long weekend but because that is also the festival weekend I wasn’t able to attend so I was happy to get a gift from it. I have read another tome (1000 pages) by Ken Follett and wondered at first if I’d read it before. It seemed familiar but my website confirmed that I hadn’t read it.

The story takes place in the 12th Century at a time of upheaval between the royals and the Church. Tom Builder is a master craftsman and has started to build a cathedral at Kingsbridge. There is a lot of conflict during the story and although we move through two generations of builders I admit by the end of it I wanted some resolution to all the struggles.

Goodreads Rating: * * * *

This was the last pattern we received prior to taking our summer break. I was determined to get caught up before our September session.

I had to ask for help from Stacia on one of the stitches our designer used but, in the end, I wasn’t able to make it work and went back to something I knew how to do.

The Flamingo gave me the most trouble but I managed to somewhat-learn two new stitches.